The qualifying session for the Formula 1 Monaco GP confirmed the difficulties faced by McLaren throughout the entire weekend in Monte Carlo. Lando Norris finished only in eighth position and acknowledged that the team had been at a disadvantage since the start of activities in the Principality.
Read more MotoGP: Check the championship standings after the Sprint in Hungary
According to the Briton, the result exactly reflected the team’s current situation. Despite some progress in car setup between free practice and the qualifying session, McLaren still lacked the necessary pace to compete for the top positions on the grid.
“We’ve been playing catch-up all weekend and the qualifying session showed that,” Norris stated. The driver explained that his laps were competitive until the final attempt, when he pushed beyond the limit in search of more performance. “My laps were good until the last one, when I pushed a bit too hard trying to find three tenths and ended up locking the tires,” he said.
The competitor also assessed that the improvement shown by the team in some sessions did not necessarily represent a real closing of the gap to the faster competitors: “We made some progress since the previous sessions, but that happened partly because the faster cars were being more conservative, while we were already at the limit,” he explained.
Despite the frustration with the result, Norris sees a positive side in identifying the problems. For him, understanding the car’s limitations at this point in the season is fundamental to guide McLaren’s development in the coming months.
Read more F2: Check the championship standings after the Sprint in Monaco
“We know exactly what’s missing and it’s better to acknowledge that now than later in the season,” he stated. The British driver emphasized that the team needs to find more rear stability and increase downforce to regain competitiveness.
Thinking about the race, Norris believes that strategy will be the main tool to try and gain positions: “Tomorrow we will be aggressive with our strategy and be ready to take advantage of any chance with Safety Cars or any other situation that arises. But overtaking here is very difficult, so we need to be realistic,” he added.
The Briton concluded by reinforcing that McLaren’s objective is to evolve the car to reproduce the performance seen earlier in the season on other circuits: “We need to improve the car, find the rear stability and downforce needed to transform the pace we had in Miami into performance on tracks like Barcelona as well,” he completed.
Read more F2: Rafael Câmara secures top-10 in Sprint and aims for main race in Monaco
